Thursday May 31st

This has been voted the worst day of the week... the most wasted day of vacation I have ever had...the most expensive vacation day, as well. It started off yesterday when I decided to cook the GRUB and then decided to try out my garbage disposal .... not ever had one and not use to using one ....but was scraping potatoes and thought a good time to get in the habit of using it, lol. Well I may never use it again... in fact I began to think I wold never use my sink again. Like I said it started last night ... Pat tried to unstop the sink for hours and gave up said to call a plumber... we just went to bed to forget it... but the phone rang and it was Chris and he had bad news... my air conditioner was not working... well he and Pat talked and he checked various things and Pat told him to call the air condition man Mr. Wolf. Igot up early to make my call and get my sink unclogged so I cod enjoy the day .. had hoped to get in some sun time. To make an all day story short.. there was no sun... The plumber came and said "Oh you need to have the septic tank pumped...and we do not do that so you owe me $75.00 and you can call so Packer septic service" well I know exactly what happened to my sink, lol.... ME!!!! By the way I have since been told you do not put potatoe peelings or onion peelings in a garbage disposal. Well I told the plumber ... wholooked to be not much older than Kyle that this is not right... I should not have to pay 75.00 when he should have a pumper if he is a plumber, lol. Well he agreed to come back if the septic man did not fix it and I could pay him then.

Chris calls about this time and says he has bad news ... it is the compressor on my air conditioner and it will be $900.00 and Mr Wolf advises to consider a new unit for $1900 and I would have a warranty.... well my unit is 23 years old and we replaced compressor 7 years ago... according to Pat and Pat says go with a new unit. They said they could get the unit in today and would bill me, so that worked out hopefully since Chris is working nights sleeping days.

The septic man came and he started looking for the septic tankwhere I thought it was ... the ground is so hard he was having a tough time... I called Pat to verify they talked and eventually he found the septic and pumped it... and the sink was still clogged. $200.00 and probably needed it cause we did have commode problems one night and as far as I know it had never been pumped. I called the plumber back and he showed up late in the evening and started hunting a place to break the pipe to rotor rooter. I do not understand why all these folks including Pat don't hear me and my potatoe peeling story.... Pat comes in about the time the guy gets started good and they work together and go under the floor brak pipe and sink still clogged...... Pat calls me on the cell from under the house, lol good idea we should have done that when working on the kitchen stuff lol. They wind up breaking the new connections under the sink and unclogging there. $95.00 and Pat was the helper lol or maybe he was the lead.




Blake and Tanner were pretty bored all day and pestered me to go to Wal Mart... Blockbuster...haircut anywhere... but I could not leave waiting on plumber/ septic men etc. Do you think they are both avoiding the picture????









Kyle got up early and went to work but things just did not go well there either and they were getting a late start from the shop so Mom brought him home so Pat could work late.The plan had been to quit at 2 for the day and tracy would leave for home at 4. He got a nap and a short jetski ride before heading home. Kyle will be back Saturday night with Chris.









Tracy, Tyler and Kyle got out of here about 2 P.M. headed to Vicksburg where the boys will leave tomorrow for football clinic at Mississippi State and Tracy will be home for her wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary Tracy and Rusty ... who would have ever thunk you would make 16 years and really they are the happiest married couple I know.





Tyler cooking pizza rolls for a snack before the trip home. Tyler and Tracy will return on Tuesday. I hope we have some sun by then.

Wednesday May 30th

Today I even slept in til 9 A.M. Shortly after I woke, Marcia appeared to visit a bit, she had carried Brody to camp and brought her book to just chill and read while so quiet. We sat on the porch and talked so that it stayed quiet here, lol kids were all still asleep. It was a real smokey day here and little or no sun. I decided that since the sun was not out I would cook GRUB so off I went to Gateway to see what they had. I came home with squash and new potatoes. I called Susan and told her if she wanted GRUB to go get green beans and cook them and join us. I had 2 pork loins I put on the grill... called Mom and told them to come eat. The kids did swim some and we all tinkered with putrs at some time and read on our books.

Marcia came over again later in the day and brought her grandkids to swim....I think Tanner enjoyed having some kids closer to his age to play with for a change.

Kyle came in from work with an interesting story... Seems they are tearing apart an old trailer and there are bee's in it. I guess they managed to get them stirred up pretty good and they got after them ... Josh took off runnng and stripping at the same time...some had gotten in his overalls... He did not stop running until he got to his underwear, lol. Now where was I with my video camera? I think I could have won us some money with that one. Kyle fished a bit and caught a turtle. Gee Blake has caught 2 vatfish that I know of this week and I have not gotten a picture. I have not done a good job on my pictures this vacation. I have todo better.

Tuesday May 29th

Today we all slept in except for Papaw and Kyle. We had planned a shopping trip for one morning while Tracy was here and I was sure glad we did wait for her, lol. Susan called wanting to see if I was cooking GRUB today, said she wanted to make sure she did not miss it, lol. I agreed to make a pot of soup when we got back from shopping. We went to get a couple of guys haircuts.... which I forgot all about by the time we had picked them all out an outfit. Kyle was the easiest to buy for, lol. It really did not take that long to make them all happy and look nice too. The boys were all anxious to get back to the lake once they had thier duds. Tracy decided she would do her wal mart trip later without them and they were happy. I did get a couple to model their new duds.

I started the soup soon as we got home and Tracy went for the sun with her book. The boys watched movies and snacked and computered until Chloe got here. Susan came over and made the cornbread in my ole sticky iron skillet and it was really good and we all ate the soup and cornbread.

Tyler enjoying his computer time.

Blake snacking and watching a movie....what more could he ask for?

Tanner is helping Blake snack and watch TV.

Kyle after his second day of work. He tore a house down today.

I did not even go down to the lake today, Tracy and Susan and I had a nice visit inside where it was cool and watched the kids playing. We had no little ears to listen which is unusual. I missed out on some good pictures thou. Tomorrow I will do better on the pictures and lake fun too.

Last weekend of May

I am gonna post a few photo's of
Saturday and Sunday afternoon of the kids and lake fun.

Kyle starts the morning by helping with some chores. We aired the new towable and seemed it took forever. Papaw went to get gas for the jetskii's and that took forever too.

Tanner stands his watch on the blowing up of the new towable.

We did many chores before we played but I did not get any pictures of that.




This is a familar look of days long ago with the old orange ski boat.



Tanner had claimed the 1st ride on the new tube weeks ago... the 1st attempt was interesting...either Tanner was too close to the front or the driver took off too quick... the tube went under and Tanner tooo..... he was not sure he wanted to try again but he did and it was a success!!!!!!! He loves the new tube and can even get on it when in the water.

Pat has a few cheoffers so he gets to eat while riding. He has been so busy all day he had not had lunch so he made sandwiches to go, lol.

Mom and Dad enjoying the sites and watching the kids play.

Blake and Hannah do the tube thing.

Josh tries to stand like Tanner is able to... but he don't seem to have the ability that Tanner has. (maybe he had just a little help from the boat driver)

These 3 rode patiently waiting thier chance to tube.

Blake gets his chance to ride the waves.

Kyle does his part in boat driving and helping Papaw get a chance to chill.

Tyler is chillin and getting real good at that... love them ipods on land or lake, road or water, van or pontoon. Seriously, they all wait more patiently for thier turn.( maybe age helps too)

Josh and Hannah get to ride.

The girls are checking out the new sofa's and waiting thier turn with Emma.

Josh and Haley waiting for the fun to begin.

These guys are staying cool til I run them out side when the baby shower starts.













I swear Dustin looks more like Chris than I remembered. Kyle has been a busy lil tinkerer since he has been here. He has become a big help to Papaw and me both.

Today is Memorial Day and seems this gang is tired... I think we will have a quiet relaxing day here and eat leftovers from the other days.

Sunday May 27th

I am gonna post every day this week since we are at THE LAKEHOUSE and figure there will be things of interest to report each day. Today was special in many ways... Sunday ... baby shower for Will and Walker, who will be joining our family in a couple months. Emma's 10 month birthday....Any day you get together with family and friends is special. We anticipate a SPECIAL DELIVERY in a couple months to be 2 fine baby boys......Will followed shortly by Walker.

We had blue punch and lots of goodies.

Brandon and Christi seem to be doing well and anxiously awaiting the twins. Christi has 3 months to go and she is big as she was when Emma was born... Course twins usually come early so I am thinking Emma may get 2 brothers for her 1st birthday.

Emma was a joy to see... she is such a happy baby... she was the intertainment for the party and she had a few baby friends to show up to help her out.. was really nice to watch these little ones mingle.

We had a nice group show up and I think everyone enjoyed the food, babies and even managed to get a pontoon ride in for the babies and parents all but Christi and we kept her company and cool while we enjoyed the fresh air.

4th Week of May

Sunday was another beautiful day and I had to spend it driving back to Mississippi.. well at least next week I won't be driving on Sunday. I had a nice pleasant drive and got home to be be greeted by Blake only ... seems Kyle was at his girlfriends house and Chris had gotten called in to work. I started on my list of stuff to do before I take off back to Bama for vacation on Friday. I made a few calls to invite family and friends to a baby shower at THE LAKEHOUSE next Sunday for Brandon and Christy's twin boys. Made my walmart list, also. The boys were off grounding for the weekend so we watched a movie Freedom Writers.. was a very good movie... even Kyle said it was good he had watched it the night before and watched it again with me. After we went to bed, I got a call from work that woke me and Blake ... to let me know the plant was down and I would be working 12 hr shifts this week... not in my plans at all, lol.

Monday was very busy at work but I managed to get the shower cake ordered. Talked to sister Sue and they did deliver my new sofa. Confirmed my plans with Tracy for the upcoming weekend and following week. It appears I will be working 12 hrs thru Thursday so I will have to be really organised and make good use of my time at night to be packed and ready to roll on Friday soon as I can get kids gathered. I am really looking forward to a week with kids on the lake. I know its just not long until they won't be interested in spending time with Mamaw... so I take it while I can and make the best of it.

Tuesday was our 26th Anniversary... Pat was afraid he would miss it or could not get out on his cell or something so he wished me a Happy Anniversary on Monday afternoon just in case, lol. Then On Tuesday morning soon as I got a chance to call him my cell rang and I answered it Happy Anniversary, lol. He actually thought he was gonna get a step ahead of me, lol. No big deal this year I guess ... but the main reason I was in Bama last weekend was to enjoy some quality time before the holiday weekend.

I worked long all week even had to workin the Control Room on Thursday .... bt I got off at regular time and gathered the boys and we headed for THE LAKEHOUSE about 5 om on Thursday. I will say that was the quietest trip we ever had. All 4 of them had mp3 players ... those are great... and I was able to multi task and listen to 4 dif styles music at the same time, lol. Ilet Kyle drive part of the way and he did really good. We had a safe trip and got there about 1030. Tanner was so excited with all the new stuff in the house... he had to call his Mom. He looked at the microwave above the stove and said well that will never work, lol case he thought he was not tall enough to open the door.... but he could reach... it will just be a few years and he will be just fine.Ofcourse I listened to many jokes about short Mamaw and how do I reach this or that , etc. Papaw was in the middle of putting up my light over my table and was waiting for help. Kyle helped him and it was like midnight before we got in bed and we knew some had to be up at 4 to go to work.

Saturday morning 4 am Papaw and Kyle were up and packing lunch for a work day and OH MY GOSH!!!!!! Tyler ws awake and coherent and in a good mood eating cereal and helping see them off, lol. Tanner woke as well and he stayed awaker to watch the sun rise before going back to sleep. Tyler crashed after Papaw and Kyle left and slept til noon. Blake Tanner and I went to Walmart after we slept a few more hours and got some necessary things like water guns and water balloons. The boys were a big help with the groceries as I knew they would be. we put away our stuff got our lunch and made our way to the lake all set for the jet ski's......well much to our dissapointment we could not get either one to start,lol so we just swam and sunned and relaxed til Papaw came in which was only gonna be a couple hours.

Kyle was a dirty boy, lol had dirt head to toe but seemed he enjoyed his 1st day at work. Seems he and Josh have made some plans on a double date... thats what I am talking about ..you go guys!!!!! Papaw got the jetski's going and all got a ride, should be lots to report over the next few days so I may even decide to do a daily report while I am on vacation. I will post a few pictures, I can think of many I wish I had taken ... guess I am not so organised yet, lol.

Tyler was not bored he was relaxing... he actually sunned with me some.

3rd Week of May

Sunday was Mothers Day and I carried Mom to eat at Ryans, the food was good and company was GREAT!!!!. The Ryans in Jasper is so much better than in Vicksburg. Tracy and Chris both called me between the lakehouse and Ryans, that was nice to hear from them. It is such a busy time for all right now. I then drove to Vicksburg, was a nice drive and I enjoyed the cd's playing and my thoughts of summer vacation. The boys were staying at thier Moms the night and Chris is working nights so when I got home there was no one to greet me, lol. OOOPS there was a message from a spades partner I have not heard from since the SUPER BOWL...seems there has been family illness that has kept him away. We should all be so THANKFUL for our good health. We managed to play a few games of spades and was badly needed by both.

On Monday I went to work an hour early cause I needed to get off an hour early to go to the dentist appointment. When I read my email I founds I have a RETREAT to go to in Jackson on Friday ....and that is 1 hr closer to Bama, lol and I get off an hour early so I am thinking seriously about going back to Bama the weekend.... but this time it will be a boating lake fun weekend ... no shopping ... no working.....:) Hmmm and we have our 26th ANNIVERSARY coming up. This week has started out good already. The dental appointment went as I expected with a follow up visit on Thursday with a peridontist for this gum problem.



The week went fast and not much time to decide what I was gonna do about going to Bamaon Friday after the Operator RETREAT. I prepared to go by pcking my clothes and doing all the chotres I could. Its very hard to make a trip 2 weekends in a row and keep the hose running smoothely even when it was just me here andnow with Chris, Kyle and Blake here I think it wold be lots worse. It seems like such a short time tilI go for 2 weeks that Ithink I should stay home... but it is a chance to do some pontoon riding without kids, lol and our anniversary on Tuesday hmmm. Most of my thoughts were just like that all week and I decided if Pat was off I would go to Bama and he found out he was gonna be off. Thursday the peridontist visit went as expected more probing and more talk about what to do and then also a plan to do some minor gum surgery in July after my vacation time.


Friday I loaded and left for Jackkson at 6 am and went to the POWER HOUSE... this place is really nice.... I have been there once before for a few days and spent the night there for some Conservative Decision Making class. This place is ike a country club... has pool table and ping pong table and card table even poker chips, lol has wet bar and grand piano along with many computer stations and then it has about 3 or 4 large class rooms. There is a cafeteria and also a snack bar that has any kinda snack you want, at all times and then on each break they have a different additional snack. One was donuts and pastries, another was cheese and crackers and one was fresh fruit. Me and 35 men tried to run them out of snacks and we could not, lol. I left at 3 pm headed to Bama and was miserably full. I got to Bama about 7 pm and Greg and Marci came by to visit and we all just lounged on my new sofa's and planned a pontoon ride for Saturday morning.



Saturday morning things did not go as we wanted. We were not able to do our pontoon ride until after 2 pm. That worked out fine because it was real windy and Pat needed to clean the pontoon. I managed to get some errands run and get some sun before the pontoon ride. We left about 4 and went to the dam and to Ryan creek to see the new condo's being built and also some of the areas that Pat has been clearing lots...I have attached a few photo's.

There was not a cloud in the sky!!!!

A gorgeous day.

This is a lot they cleared the underbrush on.

We were cold all bundled up and having a blast...... but cold....and folks were tubing skiing etc, lol. I guess our age is showing.